So this is Christmas...

Happy Christmas!!! From our home to yours!

Hope Santa brings you everything you wish for and more!!!

Love,

The McOmbers

The 'Owen' Book

Have you ever read the 'Owen' book??

Well... it is one of Owen's favorite books! He loves it. He actually cries when I take the book away.

In this cute little story, little Owen, who is a mouse, has a fuzzy yellow blanket. Owen LOVES this little blanket with all his heart. This yellow blanket is his best friend and goes everywhere with him.

Our Owen has a frog:

The frog is his BEST buddy: (I LOVE this picture, they are holding hands! So cute!)

He loves to snuggle it:

Hug, pat and squeeze it (notice the tight grip!):

Even with such a grumpy, serious face, the frog is still in hand:

They are best friends!!

And remember Herman? (His story can be read here, it really is quite funny) Well, just as suspected, Herman is a BIG hit with Owen. He loves this giraffe!! Anytime he sees it in the room he just has to play, hold, hug, and laugh with him. And when mommy says play time with Herman is over, oh man, Owen is NOT a happy camper! Thanks again grandpa, Owen LOVES his life-size giraffe!

Big smiles!

Just wait until Christmas... I see our little man being quite spoiled here soon! Many more friends to play with!

"WOW!!!"

"WOW!" ... Is one of Owen's new favorite words!!! Owen is growing so much everyday, and picking up new things every day!! He may not be totally mobile yet, he can sort of army crawl, but really doesn't care to move. He's content rolling or sitting still! But, Wow oh Wow, is his brain working and soaking up everything! He's such a smarty pants! He loves to mimic your sounds, words, and actions. And it's just so dang cute I can't even stand it! We love every minute of him, and watching him grow is so much fun!

The other night I was over at a friends house and she was showing him their Christmas tree to keep him from crying (since I was in the other room), while showing him the tree she said 'Wow,' and next thing we knew, Owen was coping her! He said it over and over at her house! We tried to get him to do it this morning, but only got a little bit out of him!

Owen saying "Wow!":

Owen is growing up way too fast, I cannot believe my baby is going to be 10 months in 3 days!!! What!? Every time I think or talk about his upcoming 1st birthday I get all teary eyed. I'm just not ready. Here is Owen at 10 months:

Owen Can:

- Army Crawl (sort of!)

- Feed himself a Bottle

- Claps and dances!

- Gives Kisses

- Says "ma-ma" and "da-da"

- Mimics Sounds

- Laughs- A LOT!

- Tries to pull himself up

- Waves "bye-bye"

- Claps

- Signs "More"

- Gives high fives

- Says "Wow!"

- Tries to blow kisses

- Feeds himself snacks

- Babbles all the time (da-da-da-da!)

Owen Loves:

- His Momma!! (my little Mama's boy!)

- Mickey Mouse (clubhouse-- so cute!)

- Books/reading

- Grandma

- Other Kids (Esp. our friend Harrison, who's 3!)

- Bath time/ splashing

- Snuggling

- Music/dancing

- To eat!

- Rolling (esp. on the bed)

- Playing in the bathroom with the mirror

- Naps with momma!

- Singing, 'Wheels on the Bus' is his personal fav.

- Prefers Women over men... but he LOVES his daddy!

Owen Does not like:

- Car seat/Car rides

- Being tickled too much

- Strangers

- Dirty diapers

- Being left alone in the room

On Thanksgiving, playing with his new Big Boy toy: CARS!

1o months... really?? Oh man, does any one know how to stop time?

Again with the Snow!!

No this image is not from the bad storm of 2008, this was just last week here in Spokane. Once again Spokane, WA is breaking snow records. November 2010 is now the snowiest November in recorded history (since 1800s!) in Spokane. Total snow fall so far in the last week and a half: 26 inches. Urgh. The deja vu of two years ago is screaming back to us, and Spokane is yet again in another "state of emergency." You'd think they would have learned their lesson, but nope, still not enough snow plows, so we are on our own here as far as roads go! Shad and I have asked ourselves 'why oh why!?' are we lucky enough to experience two out of three record breaking winters here in Spokane?! For two people who do not particularly enjoy the snow, who don't snow board, ski, or otherwise like the snow activities, it seems ironic. Spokane is quickly making our list of places not to live! Maybe Owen and I will venture out and take some pics of this snowy winter. And just maybe I'll introduce Owen to the snow, but for now, Owen and I are enjoying the warm apartment, snuggle time, movies, hot chocolate, soup, and the all around quality time together INSIDE.

Lucky for us, my parents again spoiled us with plane tickets to Seattle for Thanksgiving, so we got to spend Thanksgiving with them and other friends, plus a brief break from the snow. (Even though Seattle also had a bad snow storm in there as well!)

Click here to see the craziness of 2008!!

My Attempt at 'Craftiness'

Like I've said before, I am not great at being crafty. I go through spurts, and the end result is not always fantastic. Although being crafty is something I am always aspiring to! I love having a new project, something to help the long days go by when Shad is in school/work until 9PM. Granted, Owen fills up 99% of my time, but it was nice to have a nice "mom time" project. A couple of years ago I made a Fall pine cone wreath (seen here). This year I got this idea from a good friend here (Thanks Sam!!). She made one of these Christmas Ball Wreaths and I LOVED it so, I just had to try it. I was expecting to make more to give away as Christmas gifts, but it was a little more frustrating to find the right, CHEAP ornaments. That one for now is PLENTY! But thanks to Hobby Lobby and the Dollar Store, I LOVE the way it came out and am excited to display it here in just a week or two for Christmas! :) Go ahead, try it for yourself, you'll love the result!

Love, Love, Love it!

Fall Photos

I finally got around to editing and posting these pics! I went shooting about two weeks ago, and the colors around here were prime-awesome! Since then, just two weeks later everything is almost dead and gone. Glad I had a chance to go out, plus it was glorious outside! I went over to Gonzaga campus and walked around while Shad watched Owen, during a brief break form classes. The colors were brilliant. Some pics came out okay, not my best shoot. But I sure LOVE fall! (These were prior to my new lens, in the below post are the pics of Owen that came out much better. Dang, I should have ordered it earlier!!)

I just loved the colors in this one, plus the reflection:

I had fun playing with the shutter here, I was surprised how well that star effect came out!

For last year's fall photo shoot click here. (It was a fun one!)

Swinging at the Park

As a belated birthday or early Christmas present I got a new lens!!! (For those of you who are interested its a Nikon DX f/1.8 35mm lens) Shad had originally told me to buy it on my ACTUAL birthday (back in August), but at the time I couldn't justify spending the money. Finally after months of debating, in a moment of weakness, I caved. And let me tell you, I LOVE it!!! It takes incredible pics! I took Owen to the park the other day, on one of the last nice days of year/fall I'm sure, and had fun with it. Plus Owen LOVED the swing, it was so adorable!

I also have some Fall pictures that I took last week that I still need to share, but I am not done editing them and just haven't had the energy to blog it. Maybe it will happen... maybe not!

Here is our sweet boy at the park... Love him:

Pretty Fall Colors, Owen was very interested in the leaves

We. Love. This. Boy.

I tried to upload a cell phone video of Owen swinging and laughing, but its not working right now. :( Maybe I will try again tomorrow to get it up, for now its 11 PM, time for bed!

Owen's First Haircut

Well, we did it... we finally cut Owen's hair, it was so sad!! He went from little baby to little boy!!! I have to admit though, its pretty cute. He was a pretty good trooper about it. He squirmed around a bit, so is it even? ... probably not! Still he is too cute, who notices!?!

The Before Shots:

Voila! What a gentleman!

And now he really looks like his daddy! Handsome twin boys!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!! From us here at Hogwarts!

Love,

Ron, Hermione, & Harry :)

We decided on a Hogwarts/Harry Potter Theme this year because Shad and I read all 7 books together this summer, and just finished them last month. It was the first time Shad had read the books. Plus we are gearing up for the release of the 7th movie in just a few weeks!!

Poor little Harry had a rough night. This little tyke has been so sick all week. He was finally starting to get better yesterday, but tonight he was in full blown melt down mode. He would not let me put him down for anything, he wouldn't even let Shad hold him. Poor boy, just needed some mommy snuggles. We are praying that he gets better soon. It really has been so sad watching him suffer so long.

Little Harry did enjoy the Trunk Or Treat, he loved watching people put candy into his little bag!

He also enjoyed this little halloween rubber ducky he got from the trunk or treat, he didn't let it go all night. He even took it to the bath! Plus it was a good distraction to get some pics with the glasses on. He would NOT keep them on all night! :)

Carving Our Pumpkin- The Video!

This last weekend Shad and I decided to have a little family activity, to carve our pumpkin that we picked at the pumpkin patch last week!! We wanted to document our little project by making a video with pictures, like we did with setting up the Owen's crib! So we got out the tripod, snapped some pics, and starting carving away! The pumpkin is not fancy by any means, but we're pretty simple around here! I think it turned out pretty cute... it was a fun and silly way to spend a Sunday afternoon together! (Again this was an idea we stole from Jay and Courtney! Thanks Guys!)

Happy Birthday Shad!

Here is Owen and Shad on Saturday. Owen was sportin' support for BOTH of Shad's Alma Mater (or Soon to be Alma Mater!!)

On Saturday, October 16th, my dear, sweet husband turned 28!!! Wow, only 2 more years until the big 3-0!!! Shad got all his annual birthday fix-in's complete with pumpkin pie, chocolate dream pie, and pumpkin cookies. We had a little "party" on Saturday with a few friends from the ward and law school to share in the pie-mania! And I forgot to take PICTURES!! Me? I know... shocking, but I was too wrapped up in baking and entertaining. :)

Also, last Friday we took Owen up to Greenbluff to the pumpkin patch to pick out our family pumpkins. We each picked one. We wanted to go Friday to beat the weekend crowd, and usually they have these AMAZING pumpkin donuts, hot and fresh. However, we sadly learned that they only serve them on the weekends (Sat and Sun). So we missed out, but we did opt for a gallon of their freshly made cider! We certainly had our pumpkin fill with the pie and cookies to make up for it!

It was a fun way to celebrate my hubby's big weekend! Shad deserves the best, he works SO hard at school, work, law review, husband/father. I am so proud of him and everything is to us. Owen and I are so lucky to have him around. Happy birthday Shad, I love you!

A few pics from the patch:

He did this A LOT when we put him down! :)

He was really into the grass, more so than the pumpkins! He even tried to eat it!

Happy Fall Everyone!!

Dear Mommy...

Dear Mommy,

Do not under any circumstances leave me alone in a room. Even for a spilt second.

I will try and escape to follow you.

And even though I have not fully mastered crawling... do not underestimate my ability to get into mischief!

Who me?

Also, while we are on the subject, I am very afraid of strangers and do not like when you leave me mommy, and I don't like other people to hold me except you and sometimes daddy.

Thank you!

Love Your 'Momma's Boy',

Owen